The Citizen, 2017-10-26, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2017.
Hands-on experience helps Lees plan for passive house
A new kind of home
Passive houses, like the one pictured above, represent a convergence of newer green
technologies and energy-efficient construction materials and methods. Hallmarks of this kind
of home, which Walton's Chris and Judy Lee plan to build, include high -efficiency electronics
and high -efficiency insulation. (submitted image)
Continued from page 19
engineer in Guelph, the Lees have
begun work on designing a passive
house for their Walton property.
They hope the structure will be built
by next spring after getting the shell
up this winter sometime.
Lee said that he finds it funny that
his and Judy's project is being
viewed as so groundbreaking here in
Huron County. With many building
codes moving quickly towards
efficiency standards that are
essentially passive house -level, he
feels that in less than five years
many of the new houses being built
will be passive, or at least meet those
standards in a number of ways.
"In five years, I don't think our
house will be very special at all,"
Lee said. "The building code
represents the worst house you can
build, why not try and live up to
standards of the best house you can
build."
Lee has been working on the
concept and design of the house for
nearly a year. However, it was just a
few months ago that he was able to
be part of a passive house project not
too far from his home and he was
intrigued to see what his family's
new house could be.
Through the company he's been
working with, Lee was invited to be
part of the construction of another
passive house, the design of which
was very similar to his own.
"It was really intriguing to see the
difference," Lee said. "It's so simple
in appearance, but complex in other
ways. There's a lot of science behind
it."
One of the critical factors of a
passive house, Lee said, is to only
build the house as big as it needs to
be. The more space in the house, the
harder it is to heat and to retain heat
throughout its entire square -footage.
For a retirement home, Lee said
that he and Judy only need the
basics, but soon wanted to expand
the home slightly. They got to the
point where they were going to be
able to, by design, add a smaller
second floor to the house and not
lose any efficiency.
The house is essentially flipped,
he said, where they're adding a
basement on the top of the house, but
with windows and a view.
While the exterior design of the
house has changed drastically during
the process, the interior has
remained relatively consistent. This
is the part of the process that Lee
says has been easy, because the
construction process for a passive
house isn't much different from that
of a code house — most of the
differences are materials.
The project has not been without
its doubters. Lee says it took a while
to convince Judy that a passive
house was the way to go and when
he told his father, he said that house
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sounded great, but that he should
leave enough room to add a furnace,
because he'll need it.
However, for Lee the need to build
a passive house runs much deeper
than saving money on the monthly
hydro bill.
Born in England, Lee became a
Canadian citizen in 1967, Canada's
centennial year, and since then he
has become immensely proud to be a
Canadian. However, he says that the
North American share of energy and
resources is so disproportionate that
he feels he can no longer ignore our
need to improve the environment.
Last year he took his cues from
Canada's most prominent
politicians. In speeches both by
Premier Kathleen Wynne and Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau, they hinted
at leading Canada away from its
dependency on oil.
Lee says he feels this isn't simply
something to ease carbon emissions
or to stimulate the renewable energy
economy, but rather highlights
the lack of sustainability of the
world's energy landscape as it sits
right now.
Much of that energy consumption
comes from the day-to-day running
of an average residential house, he
said, in addition to cars, machinery
and industry.
"We take that energy and we blow
it out the walls of our homes," Lee
said. "We can't keep living that way
indefinitely."
So while he said he felt he was
doing his part by recycling and
cutting energy consumption when he
could, building a passive house is a
way to take a huge bite out of what
had been his family's carbon
footprint for decades.
For more information on the
passive house concept, visit the
Passive House Institute's website at
www.passivehouse.com.
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